In Iran, National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on the 1st day of the month of Shahrivar, which corresponds to August 23 in the Gregorian calendar. This date was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Avicenna, a famous Persian polymath who made a great contribution to the development of medicine.

European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism is observed in the countries of Europe on August 23. This day commemorates the death of people, who became victims of totalitarian ideologies, especially Stalinism (communism) and Nazism (fascism).

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Fascism and Communism, formerly known as Liberation from Fascist Occupation Day, is observed in Romania on August 23. On this day in 1944, King Michael I led a coup which resulted in the overthrow of Ion Antonescu and his fascist government. Following the coup, Romania joined the Allies.

This Day in History

2011Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces took control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

2000143 passengers of Gulf Air Flight 072 were killed, when the airliner crashed into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain.

1997Died: John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer. In 1962 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography.

1996Osama bin Laden issued a message entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places" and initiated the first series of bombings and related attacks.

1993The first known asteroid moon, later named Dactyl, was discovered by the Gelileo spacecraft around the asteroid 243 Ida.

1991World Wide Wed, WWW, was opened to new users by its inventor and computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.

1990West and East Germany made an announcement about reunification, that would take place on October 3, 1990.

1989Two million people from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania came to streets to a peaceful political demonstration. Holding hands, they formed a chain, that connected three Baltic capitals - Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn.

1982Died: Stanford Moore, American biochemist and academic, a Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate for work on the structure on the enzyme ribonuclease and for contribution to the understanding of the connection between the chemical structure and catalytic activity of the ribonuclease molecule.

1979Born: Ritchie Neville, English singer, most noted for being a member of the successful boy band Five. The band was launched by the producers of Spice Girls and achieved world success (mostly in Britain, Asia and Europe).

1974Born: Konstantin Novoselov, Russian born British physicist and academic. In 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking experiments regarding the material graphene.

1970Born: River Phoenix, American actor, musician and activist, the older brother of American actor Joaquin Phoenix. He had a promising career, but he died at the age of 23 from an acute drug intoxication.

1966The first photo of Earth was taken from orbit around the Moon by Lunar Orbiter 1, the first American spacecraft to orbit the Moon.

1946Born: Keith Moon, English drummer, songwriter, and producer, known as the drummer of the English rock band the Who. He is well known for his drumming technique and the readers of Rolling Stone named him to be the second-greatest drummer in history.

194438 children and 23 grownups were killed, when a United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into a school in Freckleton, England.

1939Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, dividing spheres of influence over Eastern Europe. According to the secret addition, The Baltic States, Romania, Finland and Poland were divided between the two nations.

1933Born: Robert Curl, American chemist and academic. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovery of the nanomaterial buckminsterfullerene.

1931Born: Hamilton O. Smith, American microbiologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for discovery of type II restriction enzymes.

1926Died: Rudolph Valentino, Italian-born American actor, star of several well-known silent films: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle, and The Son of the Sheik. After death at 31 he was propelled into the status of an American sex symbol and icon.

1924Born: Robert Solow, American economist, known for his work on the theory of economic growth, that culminated in the exogenous growth model, that was named after him. In 1987 he was awarded Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for analysis of economic growth.

1921Born: Kenneth Arrow, American economist and academic, a prominent figure in post-World War II neo-classical economic theory. In 1972 he was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics

1912Born: Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, and dancer, known for his energetic and athletic dancing style. He is remembered for performances in films such as An American in Paris, Anchors Aweigh and Singin' in the Rain.

1892Died: Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian politician, the first President of the Republic of Brazil. He deposed Emperor Pedro II and proclaimed the Republic in 1889. He served in office till November 1891.

1831Died: Ferenc Kazinczy, Hungarian author. He is best known for the extensive Language Reform of the 19th century that coined and revived thousands of words. The reform established the modern Hungarian language, that was able to keep up with scientific progress.

1813Died: Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born American poet, ornithologist, regarded as the greatest American ornithologist of his time. Several species of birds were named after him.

1806Died: Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist, best known for developing Coulomb's law, defining electrostatic force of attraction and repulsion. The SI unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was named after him.

1769Born: Georges Cuvier, French biologist and academic, a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century and instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology.

1628Died: George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English politician, claimed by some to the lover of King James I of England. He became one of the characters in Alexandre Duma's The Three Musketeers, where he was painted as a lover of Anne of Austria.

1591Died: Luis de León, Spanish poet and academic, active during the Spanish Golden Age. His poetry was praised in Spain and he was the source of inspiration to various Neoclassical poets.

1305Died: William Wallace, Scottish commander, one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served on this position till his death. He was executed by King Edward I of England by hanging, drowning and quartering for high treason and crimes against English civilians.